Until now, I pictured Taxila as one big city as
it is in modern times. What threw me off was that ancient sources talked about
the three ancient cities of Bhir, Sirkap as well as Sirsukh
instead of Taxila. Meanwhile, modern archaeology has established that Taxila is composed of 18 separate sites of great cultural value. This demanded
a closer and more in-depth study of the matter.
From the 6th century BC onward, the
city of Taxila was
known by the Persian Achaemenid kings, who turned it into an important hub on
their Royal Road
from Persepolis
to Central Asia.
For Alexander, Taxila was the first
major city he encountered on this way into India. It also was the residence of
King Taxiles, who came to meet him
while he was still in Sogdiana. He had promised to join his forces to those of Alexander but he died before they could meet. True to his father’s
word, Omphis (also called Mophis or Ambhi) received Alexander in Taxila (see: Alexander crossing the Indus at Ohind).
We will recall that Omphis had
provided supplies to Hephaistion and the Macedonians as they were bridging
the Indus River. When both kings met outside the
city, Omphis handed his fifty-six elephants over to Alexander, together with an impressive
herd of livestock including 3,000 bulls dressed up for sacrifices.
The site of Bhir is actually the place where this
meeting took place in 326 BC since Omphis’
palace stood on top of a mound that carried that name. This same location was
later occupied by Chandragupta
Maurya (see: Was
Chandragupta inspired by Alexander?)
and his grandson, Asoka.
As the latter introduced Buddhism in the Gandhara
region, the first Buddhist monastery was erected at this very spot at some time
in the 3rd century BC. By the 2nd century AD, this
construction was replaced by the Dharmarajika Stupa, remains of which
still are visible.
With Alexander,
Greek knowledge and science reached Taxila. Here, philosophers and the
like met and developed science, mathematics and astronomy.
Sirkap emerged at a later date. After Alexander’s conquest, the eastern part
of his empire was ruled by the Seleucid kings till about 250 BC. By then, power
was taken over by the self-proclaimed King
Diodotus
I of Bactria, who laid the foundations of what became the
Greco-Bactrian Empire. These Bactrian Greeks advanced into the Gandhara region and erected their
well-planned city of Sirkap
as part of Taxila.
For the next five hundred years, Greek remained the lingua franca and
the influence of Greek art and beliefs lived on (see: Unique
Hellenistic heritage in Pakistan).
This link is confirmed by the Greek philosopher
Apollonius of Tyana (15-100 AD) who described Taxila as being rich with Greek type of constructions. This happened in the 1st
century AD and it is generally accepted that he was talking about Sirkap.
As a result of the heavy traffic on the Silk
Road that connected Central Asia to China, business flourished while
the population mingled with the Scythians, the Parthians and later the Kushans.
Besides silk and other precious goods, Buddhism also spread steadily in the
wake of Buddhist monks travelling to China,
Korea and Japan. It was
under the Kushan emperors that a new form of art blossomed blending classical
Greek expression with local art forms. This became known as the Gandhara Art,
which produced the most remarkable statues of Buddha and Bodhisattvas (see: Indo-Greek art or the influence of Hellenism on Buddhist art).
One of the oldest Stupas is the so-called Round
Stupa from the 1st century AD. The largest sanctuary is the Apsidal Temple; measuring 70x40m with a square
nave and several rooms used by the Buddhist monks. It also presented a
building in an apsidal shape – hence its name. It may have been decorated by a
Greek artist but the earthquake of 30 AD destroyed most of the building.
Of particular interest in the Double-Headed
Eagle Stupa which displayed pilasters of Greek design with Corinthian
columns. It has a strange combination of a Greek temple and a Hindu shrine. The
ensemble is crowned with a double-headed eagle as originally found in Babylon.
The theory is that the idea spread to Scythia and was introduced to the Punjab by the Saka rulers.
The large Dharmarajika Stupa already
mentioned in Bhir, was situated not far from Sirkap. It was built with
the sole purpose of housing relics of the Buddha and was surrounded by several
monastic buildings.
The most recent city is Sirsukh, which was
founded by the Kushans after 80 AD. King
Kanishka had decided to abandon Sirkap and to build his own new city in a typical Central Asian style. The city was surrounded by a strong fortification wall that
was almost five kilometers long and more than six meters thick. Its
particularity was that the face of these walls was covered with diaper or
diamond shaped masonry. Until now, the city proper could not be investigated
properly because today it is buried deep underneath the low richly irrigated
land. Sirsukh was completely destroyed by the Huns who invaded the Punjab around 500 AD.
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